NASA Rover Finds Another Possible Meteorite on Mars

NASA's plucky
Mars rover Opportunity has discovered what appears to be another meteorite on
the surface of the Red Planet, bringing its lifetime total to five so far.

The rover
spotted the rock at the end of its 81-meter (266-foot) drive on Sept. 16, NASA
officials said. It appears as a dark, toaster-sized rock in photos taken by the
rover from 31 meters (102 feet) away. [Photo:
Rover's latest Mars meteorite.]

"The dark
color, rounded texture and the way it is perched on the surface all make it
look like an iron meteorite," said rover science team member Matt Golombek
of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

The newfound
rock has been given the informal name "Oilean Ruaidh" (pronounced
ay-lan ruah), which is the Gaelic name for an island off the coast of
northwestern Ireland. The rock appears to be about 45 centimeters (18 inches)
wide.

Rover mission
managers plan to send Opportunity
in to get a closer look at the rock to determine it is indeed a meteorite, NASA
officials said.

If so, it would
be the fifth iron meteorite the rover
has found since it began exploring Mars' Meridiani Planum region
in 2004.

Examination of
these rocks has yielded information about the Martian atmosphere, as well as
the meteorites themselves, rover scientists said.

Opportunity has
now driven 14.5 miles (23.3 km) on Mars, according to NASA officials. The drive
to the possible meteorite will take the total combined distance driven by
Opportunity and its twin, Spirit, to more than 19.26 miles (31 km).

Opportunity and
Spirit both landed on Mars in January 2004. Their mission was initially slated
to last only about three months, but both far surpassed that lifetime.

Last year,
Spirit got bogged down in soft sand and stopped
communicating with Earth in spring of this year. Opportunity,
though, is still going strong and headed to a huge crater called Endeavour.